74 pages • 2 hours read

A Walk in the Woods

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1998

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 13-14

Chapters 15-16

Chapters 17-18

Chapters 19-21

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary

Four days after leaving Franklin, Bryson and Katz have “one of those hallelujah moments that come but rarely on the trail” (125): They see the Smoky Mountains from a distance and Fontana Lake at its western end. Knowing that the dam at Fontana Lake might have a welcome center, they head that way but find all of the dam’s services closed. Instead, they enter the vast 800 square miles of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where they’ll have to traverse 16 peaks above 6,000 feet, including Clingman’s Dome, the highest point on the AT at 6,643 feet. Midway through the chapter, Bryson provides a lengthy discussion on the ecological aspects of the Smokies. He points out that botanists consider the Smokies “the finest mixed mesophytic forest in the world” (127) because of its astonishing range of plant life. Likewise, the Smokies are home to 67 varieties of mammals, 200 types of birds, and 87 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Bryson and Katz’s time in the Smokies turns disastrous because of a steady, heavy rain that lasts for days. The first shelter they find looks superior to those in Georgia and North Carolina from a distance, but when they reach it, they realize that it’s far worse; it’s infested with mice and rats, which they physically fight off all night long. The next day, they hike nearly 10 miles in the rain, and the subsequent shelter is crowded with other hikers, one of whom insists on talking about equipment with Bryson, which he hates but realizes “is one of those things you just have to do, like chatting to your mother’s friends in the supermarket” (140). On their third day in the Smokies, they finally reach Clingman’s Dome, but weather obscures the world-famous view. Soaked, filthy, and needing a square meal, they decide that they must descend to the nearby tourist town of Gatlinburg.

Chapter 8 Summary

Gatlinburg lies 15 downhill miles from Clingman’s Dome, so Bryson and Katz catch a ride with some students going that way. Bryson notes that Gatlinburg is a “shock to the system” (145), a tourist trap that specializes in all the things that the park doesn’t—fast food, motels, gift shops, and sidewalks. Bryson is appalled by Gatlinburg, not only because of its overpriced food and focus on tourism but also because of what it represents about America—the constant need for bigger and newer products and enterprises. While buying bootlaces, Bryson notices a large map of the AT and uses his fingers to measure the distance that they’ve traveled thus far. On the map, which is roughly four feet long, they’ve traveled only two inches. Realizing their lack of progress, Bryson and Katz consider the liberating decision to simply skip a portion of the trail, an option “that grew more attractive the more [they] considered it” (150). Instead of getting back on the AT in the Smokies, they’d rent a car and drive nearly 300 miles to Roanoke, Virginia.

Chapters 7-8 Analysis

Bryson and Katz wait for the weather to clear in Franklin, North Carolina and eventually get back on the trail in Chapter 7. Because of a disagreement about their rush to get back on the trail, a subtle animosity has developed in their companionship. Bryson notes that to Katz, “hiking was a tiring, dirty, pointless slog between distantly spaced comfort zones,” but nevertheless he was “wholly, mindlessly, very contentedly absorbed with the business of just pushing forward” (123). On their fourth day back on the trail, they spot the Smoky Mountains from a distance, which leads Bryson to step away from his narrative and into a wealth of background information about the unique and world-famous plant and animal life in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. Their days hiking and nights camping in the Smokies are disastrous, primarily because of nonstop rain, but they finally make it to Clingman’s Dome, “the highest point on the AT at 6,643 feet” (126) and the highest mountain in all of the eastern US. However, the lack of visibility because of the weather at a major vista point, to which they’ve hiked many difficult miles, delivers a minor blow that contributes to a growing disillusionment.

Desperately needing clean, dry clothes, Bryson and Katz catch a ride down the mountain from Clingman’s Dome to the tourist town of Gatlinburg 15 miles away. Perhaps more than at any other point, the theme of Wilderness and Civilization, emerges in Chapter 8. Bryson writes, “Gatlinburg is a shock to the system from whichever angle you survey it, but never more so than when you descend upon it from a spell of moist, grubby isolation in the woods” (145). This comment illustrates how emerging from the beauty of the wilderness into a town that caters to American overindulgence amplifies its ugliness. In the midst of the hundreds of motels and gift shops, they find a large map of the AT and measure their progress with their fingers, only to find that they’ve traveled only two inches (of four feet) by that scale. Disgusted, they jointly make the decision to skip a large portion of the trail and instead rent a car to drive to Roanoke, Virginia. This highlights how a negative perspective on one’s progress can contribute to disillusionment and lead to missing possibly great experiences. In another sense, however, it demonstrates the common sense in not attempting things beyond what one can handle (in this case, continuing a difficult trek in extreme weather conditions).